1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a recording apparatus for recording an image by applying ink which is supplied from an ink tank onto a recording medium and a detecting method of a remaining amount of the ink in the ink tank and, more particularly, to a recording apparatus having a detecting mechanism which can detect that the remaining amount of the ink in the ink tank is equal to or less than a predetermined amount and a remaining ink amount detecting method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, a method of optically detecting whether or not a remaining amount of ink in an ink tank for enclosing the ink is equal to or less than a predetermined amount or a method of optically detecting the presence or absence of the ink has been known. For example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H08-112907, there has been disclosed a method whereby in order to detect a remaining amount of ink in an ink tank having a negative pressure generating member (absorber), light is made to pass through a part of a light transmissive ink tank wall surface and a change in light reflectance of a boundary portion between the wall surface and the negative pressure generating member is detected.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H07-218321, there has been disclosed an ink tank having an optical ink detecting section which is formed by a light transmissive member made of the same material as that of the ink tank in which an interface with ink and which has a predetermined angle from an optical path. Further, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H09-29989 or Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-198222, there has been disclosed a technique for detecting the presence or absence of ink and the presence or absence of an ink tank by one photosensor in which a light emitting device and a light receiving device are constructed in common.
In addition, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H07-89090, there has been disclosed an apparatus for detecting the presence or absence of a liquid enclosed in a liquid enclosing container having a negative pressure generating member enclosing chamber and a liquid enclosing chamber communicating with the negative pressure generating member enclosing chamber.
A conventional remaining ink amount detecting mechanism using a light transmissive prism will be described with reference to FIG. 6. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a positional relation among a light transmitting type prism 1060 provided for a bottom surface 1061 of an ink tank, a light emitting device 1062 for irradiating light to the prism, and a light receiving device 1063 for receiving the light. As shown in FIG. 6, the prism 1060 is provided on the bottom surface 1061 of the ink tank. The light from the light emitting device 1062 enters the prism 1060 from an external lower position of the ink tank.
If the ink tank has sufficiently been filled with the ink, the incident light passes along a path of [an optical path (1)→an optical path (2)′] and is not returned to the light receiving device 1063. On the contrary, if the ink has been consumed and the little ink remains in the ink tank, the incident light is reflected by an oblique side portion of the prism 1060, passes along a path of [the optical path (1)→an optical path (2)→an optical path (3)], and reaches the light receiving device 1063. As mentioned above, the presence or absence of the ink is detected by checking whether or not the light irradiated from the light emitting device 1062 is returned to the light receiving device 1063. The light emitting device 1062 and the light receiving device 1063 are provided on the recording apparatus main body side.
The optical remaining ink amount detecting mechanism described above can be considered to be a rational method as a method whereby whether or not the remaining amount of the ink in the ink tank is equal to or less than the predetermined amount is discriminated or the presence or absence of the ink is detected at low costs.
Further features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments (with reference to the attached drawings).